Territorialism

Territorialism, also known as Statism (but not to be confused with another belief also called statism), was a Jewish political movement. Jewish people wanted some land to live in that was big enough for them. It did not necessarily have to be in the land where the country of Israel is today, and it did not necessarily have to be its own country.

In 1903, British cabinet ministers suggested the British Uganda Program, land for a Jewish state in "Uganda" (the land they were thinking about is actually in the modern country of Kenya). At first, Herzl said no to the idea, because he liked Palestine better. After the April 1903 Kishinev pogrom, in which many Jews were violently attacked in Russia, Herzl suggested to the Sixth Zionist Congress to look at the offer as a temporary way to keep Russian Jews safe. The plan was very controversial, and many Russian Jews were so upset that they walked out of the meeting. Few historians believe that such a settlement idea could have attracted immigrants, received much money in donations, or been supported by many other countries. Because some members of the Zionist leadership liked the idea, however, peace was kept in the movement because they voted to start a committee to look at the possibility. They did not officially say no to the idea until the 7th Zionist Congress in 1905.[1]

Because of this, the Jewish Territorialist Organization (ITO) led by Israel Zangwill split off from the Zionist movement. It tried to find land where Jews could settle in different parts of America (e.g. Galveston), Africa, Asia, and Australia, but with little success. The ITO broke up in 1925.

As the Holocaust became close and as Nazis were discriminating against Jews in Germany, Isaac Nachman Steinberg started the Freeland League in the United States in 1935. This organization tried, but did not succeed, to start a new Jewish country by getting a large piece of land in places in Ecuador, Australia, or Suriname where not many people lived. One of the more well-known tries was the Kimberley Plan, to get land in Australia.[3] After the State of Israel was created in 1948, Steinberg had criticized the exclusivist politics of the Zionist government and continued his attempts to create a non-nationalist Jewish settlement in some other part of the world. After Steinberg died in 1957, the Freeland League was led by Mordkhe Schaechter, who gradually changed the focus of the organization to more cultural, Yiddishist goals.